Women continue to remain under-represented in many fields and professions of research across Europe. This is despite efforts to promote gender equality in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) positions.

As a father of a teenage daughter I worry that continuing gender stereotypes will put her off pursuing a scientific profession. And she has few role models to look up to; unfortunately this is the same for many women graduating today.

The lack of workplace flexibility to balance work and family life continues to have an impact on a young women’s decision to go into science and studies show that gender related bias, in part, also explains why men are more likely than women to hold more jobs in science related fields.

The European Commission encourages women into science

The European Commission has been trying to address this imbalance for some time. Initiatives such as the 2012 ‘Women in Research and Innovation’ campaign, the Science in Society Programme and other policy initiatives have been put in place to encourage more women into science and technology.

Workplace management

I’m a clear supporter of policy changes to enable/encourage more women into science and technology careers but there also needs to be a significant change in people’s attitudes in the workplace. Funding initiatives should educate current and future leaders, managers and staff on how to be effective and fair to all members of staff. Great companies and leaders consider the needs of their staff as individuals.

Supporting more women into STEM positions isn’t only about rules on team composition and marketing strategies. It is no good successfully encouraging women into the workplace if the workplace isn’t ready to receive them. Making sure we adopt modern business management techniques and change our work place environments are equally important.

Gender and science under Horizon 2020

New rules in the Horizon 2020 programme for research and innovation place a strong emphasis on gender balance. The idea is to ensure women are at the centre of how research and innovation will be funded going forward. These rules specifically encourage gender balance in research teams and decision making and in the analysis of research and innovation to make sure women’s needs are taken into account. Proposals which demonstrate a strong gender balance will be marked above those that fail to do so.

Horizon 2020 will be competitive. It amazes me how many consortia fail to maximise their chance of winning. Winning is about taking care of the details in your proposal. Not by being just good enough and there is a clear incentive to ensure gender balance in your research team. You can gain more marks by having a good gender balance.

Putting some glamour into science

The new programme under Horizon 2020 "Science for and with society" will focus on developing new ways of making science more attractive to young people and by encouraging research and innovation.

The programme hopes to bring science and innovation closer to society and to create a balanced research society. By bringing researchers, citizens, policy makers and industry together during the research and innovation process, it is hoped that this approach will encourage gender equality in both research process and content.

Get the right information

How gender equality will be integrated within the different calls under Horizon 2020 and how best it can be demonstrated in proposals, will be a key topic of discussion at the upcoming Gender Summit in Brussels. The summit provides a timely opportunity for those applicants wanting to discuss this important aspect of calls with experts.

The gender dimension is already integrated across 13 different programmes under Horizon 2020. It will be interesting to see how far these new rules work towards integrating the gender dimension into research to achieve more sustainable science, and specifically how this element will sit alongside other key Horizon 2020 objectives.

When I first started writing proposals I failed, quite a lot in fact, and I still sometimes do. Apart from not meeting the eligibility criteria – one of the top reasons proposals fail – I have listed the 3 main pitfalls below.

Starting too late

Everything takes time and effort. For example, a Horizon 2020 innovation action is around 60-80 pages long. A good rule to apply is that each page of text takes about 4 hours to complete. That’s a maximum of 320 hours or 40 days work at 8 hours a day.

Time can be wasted chasing people who don’t meet deadlines. Horizon 2020 projects are big proposals, requiring the management of 5 to 10 partners. In addition, the communication overload arranging meetings can eat up time. It’s possible to submit a proposal in less than 40 days – but everything is a balance of time, quality and cost – spending less time may mean losing quality.

No vision

Great proposals have a vision – a vision of the future that they want to create – they sell that vision and then tell you how and what they are going to do to achieve it.

Most proposals start backwards – focusing on the “what” rather than the “why”. When you first come together as a proposal team, you have to think about your purpose. Why should the proposal exist in the first place? What is your greater purpose? Good proposals are inspirational.

Not building a proposal team

Horizon 2020 is about European collaboration and that means building an effective team. Great proposals come from great teams working together to deliver the best effort they can. All teams go through 4 stages:

forming

storming

norming

and performing

Good teams are well led, cooperate and meet face-to-face often to work together to achieve a common goal.

It’s important to bring the right people together and to invest in their skills. Ignore the ‘soft’ side of proposal development at your peril. You may get lucky once or twice – but in the long run you’ll lose more than you will win.

I was asked today to meet some companies and give my thoughts on the benefits and pitfalls of applying for European funding under Horizon 2020. It was a lively discussion and one attendee had been converted to the cause of Europe. Alas, this was before I gave my talk - but I would like to think that it removed the last bit of doubt in his mind.

Anyway, here are my thoughts repeated below for your benefit. I’ll start with the pitfalls first to make sure we end on a positive note.

It isn’t about the money

Well, yes of course that is a big part of being involved, but if that is your only reason for applying, then perhaps you need to look elsewhere. People are always surprised when I say this, but your chances of winning - even with a good bid writer - are around 10% at best. Anyone that tells you otherwise isn’t telling you the whole truth. If your only measurement of success is winning then prepare to be disappointed.

It’s going to cost you money

No matter which way you cut it, being involved is going to cost you money. That might be real cash - paying for equipment - or indirectly paying your staff. Before you even win you have to develop the proposal, this is real time and effort. And you are either paying a consultant or paying your staff, good bids don’t write themselves.

If you win, even at a 100% funding, you need to cash flow the project. While staff are working on the project they aren’t working on generating revenue. Also, a 25% flat rate overhead isn’t going to cover all those costs you incur running your business. Lastly, you’re not allowed to make money on government funded projects which pretty much rules out any final hope you had.

You need to play the long game

You’ll get the most benefit out of Horizon 2020 projects by staying involved over a number of years. Getting involved has to be a strategic decision that you make for your company or organisation. And like many strategic decisions it will take time to pay off - you may have to take a few losses before you see a return.

The upside - is there one?

Yes there is, and the main benefit is the exposure and collaboration with other companies and enterprises. Research agencies gain access to a wider body of knowledge and expertise while private companies should view Horizon 2020 as paid business development. You’ll have the chance to build business trust with potential customers and suppliers.

It’s the economy

Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (Research, Innovation and Science) points out that the US, South Korea, Japan and Singapore all have more intense spending than the EU bloc. People sometimes question the link between R&D spending and economic growth but it isn’t easy to spot which ideas will turn into future economic success.

Inventions such as GPS, magnetic resonance imaging and the internet all grew out of basic research ideas. And some inventions like the laser weren’t seen as useful when first conceived but without it we wouldn’t have fast fibre optic broadband internet.

It’s not the winning but the taking part that counts

The opening day of the Horizon 2020 grants in December 2013 saw 70,000 forms being downloaded every hour. That is a lot of people interested in funding. Even if you don’t win your first attempt, the proposal development process can be as beneficial as the outputs of the final project.

The companies that make the most from being involved in Horizon 2020 are the ones that commit the time and effort to develop good proposals. This means getting around a table and examining in detail your idea or project. A process which alone allows you to build new business partners and generate new opportunities for revenue.

Human technical advancement never has been as exciting as it is now. I think it is exciting and I am looking forward to seeing the results of European collaboration.

Living and working in Brussels I see many examples of the use of written English - both good and bad - and not just from non native speakers. I have also heard that we have to live with what is known as Brussels English and that it doesn’t matter about the standard I see.

There is no doubt that English is the working language of the European Commission and we should clearly communicate our messages so that they can be understood. We are in the business of government and people should know what we want to achieve. Especially when we are asking for taxpayers to fund Horizon 2020 projects.

Using plain English

In the English speaking world, there has been a move towards the use of plain English in government and marketing communications. Plain English means using language and structure so that a reader understands what is needed and takes action. That’s effective communication.

A definition of plain English

'A communication is in plain English if it meets the needs of its audience — by using language, structure, and design so clearly and effectively that the audience has the best possible chance of readily finding what they need, understanding it, and using it.'

This definition was accepted by the International Plain Language Working Group and was found in Cheek, A. ‘Defining plain language.’ Clarity 64 (2010): 5 – 25.

Using plain English in proposals for Horizon 2020

Proposals are generally written by several people - normally by people who are highly involved in the subject area and they are technical documents that communicate innovative ideas. Too often people’s enthusiasm for their ideas overtakes the need to clearly communicate the benefits of their project.

Evaluators say the main reason why they give a low score for a proposal is due to ideas and work which is not clearly explained. Then why do consortiums make it difficult for the evaluator to read the text? At a basic level, sentences are too long, paragraphs are large and text is squeezed into limited space.

Say what you are going to do

We see too many examples of fluff with vague and undefined language. Here is an example from a real proposal; this was an objective of the project.

"A significant and material change in travel patterns and behaviours across a large number of citizens, utilising existing technologies and applying established methodologies across Europe to achieve sustainable and energy-efficient mobility patterns.”

What does this objective actually say? Does it communicate a specific and measurable outcome? Maybe a better way to say this would be;

"We will reduce car use in 1000 commuters by increasing the use of bicycles. We will use personal travel plans delivered through modern communication channels. Reducing CO2 usage amongst our target groups by 10%."

The latter is more convincing - what is a significant change and how large is a large number?

Make your words count toward your word count

When people are faced with page and word limits the tendency is to fill the page with as much information as possible in the belief that more information is better. But is this the right information? The challenge with grant writing is not to fill up fields with enough words - it is to make sure that every one of those words is adding value.

Finding out more about using plain English

There is much more to say about plain English than space in this post. You can find out more by reading these books.

The European Commission is holding an event today on how the EU will help SMEs under Horizon 2020. The workshop aims to help participants acquire an overview of the support available and provide practical tips on how to participate in calls for funding. A keynote speech will be made by Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science. The event, “Horizon 2020 Is Open for Business” can be followed on live web streaming via this link.

BRUSSELS/ZURICH (Reuters) - The European Union said on Sunday it has postponed negotiations with Switzerland on its participation in multibillion-dollar research and educational schemes in the latest fallout

The end of the November is the deadline for finalising Horizon 2020. EU officials visited Israel this week, promising that the EU wanted to work with Israel’s high tech economy. But so far differences over the building of settlements are blocking Israel’s participation in Horizon 2020.

The issue came to a head in July 2013, when the EU Executive Commission announced it would bar financial assistance to any Israeli organisation operating in the West Bank from 2014.

Israel reacted furiously when the guidelines were revealed. Accusing the EU of lying about the scope of the measures. But the EU said that Israel had failed to understand fully European frustration over the issue.

"This had been in the pipeline for months. The problem was that the Israelis did not originally understand the (bureaucratic) language, so felt exposed," said a senior European diplomat in Jerusalem, who declined to be named.

Israeli science faces damage if Israel does not sign the Horizon 2020 agreement on scientific cooperation. This was the warning given by Prof. Ruth Arnon - an immunologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.

The EU has made cooperation conditional on Israel agreeing that funds can not be spent beyond the Green Line. The Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Horizon 2020 is focused on promoting economic growth and creating Jobs. Israel, as the home of cutting-edge science and innovation, is the only non EU country that has been asked to join.

The investment that involvement in EU research brings can not be ignored. Israel is expected to invest €600 million to return €900 million in research and other funds.